Venezuela News Review 10.05.06

By Aleksander Boyd

 Venezuela did not get enough votes to gain a seat in the UN's Human Rights Council. Surprisingly Cuba, a dictatorship where chronic and sistematic abuses take place on a daily basis, has won a seat.

 Brazil's President Lula Da Silva warned Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez regarding the latter's meddling in sovereign affairs of other nations. Our discomfort, and President Lula's personal discomfort, with some of his actions was certainly conveyed to President Chavez" stated Celso Amorin Brazil Foreign Secretary, who concluded saying "that disappointment was conveyed unequivocally by President Lula, to the point of saying that it jeopardizes not just the gas pipeline, but the whole idea of South American integration."

 A Nicaraguan electoral organization by the name of "Etica y Transparencia" denounced yesterday that Venezuela is supporting Daniel Ortega and his Sandinista Front.

 Peruvian presidential candidate Ollanta Humala asked Hugo Chavez to stop confronting former president Alan Garcia, who has gained a 20 point lead over the former in the build up to the second round since the Venezuelan president started hurling insults at the latter.

 Hugo Chavez and his Bolivian sidekick Evo Morales will host a paralel summit in Viena this weekend. Descifrado reports that the event -called "Linking Alternatives" and financed by Venezuela- will serve to discuss socialist ideals.

 Lloyd Axworthy, chief of the OAS' electoral observation mission deployed in Peru, asked countries to stop meddling in the presidential race. His words were interpreted in Peruvian press as clear allusion to the antics of Hugo Chavez and Evo Morales, both of whom have declared openly their support to Ollanta Humala.

 A group of Venezuelan supporters of Hugo Chavez presumably from the UK-based Bolivarian Circle Isaias Medina and his Ambassador to the UK Alfredo Toro Hardy are meant to be worried for the safety of the great leader whilst in London. In communication dated 4th of May the Bolivarians requested Toro Hardy to press the authorities to see that Chavez's physical integrity goes unharmed.

 Venezuela decided to double the so called "exploration tax" to 33.3% to all companies operating in the country. Equally income tax was increased from 34% to 50%.